Today the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave an important boost to the case for scrapping Investor State Dispute Settlement, as well as other corporate court systems like it, in trade agreements. Part of the ECJ’s ruling today was that trade deals that contain ISDS need to be ratified in EU…Read more…
Drop the MIC
Yesterday the TUC responded to the European Commission’s consultation on its plans to develop a global version of the notorious Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). ISDS is the court system found in thousands of trade and investment agreements that foreign investors have used to sue…Read more…
European Parliament vote for CETA brings the battle for fair trade deals home
Today the European Parliament voted 458 in favour of the EU-Canada deal known as CETA with 254 votes against. This means that about 90% of the deal comes into force and paves the way for the deal to be sent to the UK parliament for approval. If the UK parliament agrees to CETA we will…
The…Read more…
First European Parliament NO vote to CETA from the employment committee
Yesterday the Employment and Social Affairs committee of the European Parliament voted to reject the notorious EU-Canada (CETA) trade deal because of the negative impact it would have on workers. While this vote was not binding – the vote on whether to accept the deal will ultimately be made in the…Read more…
Globalisers’ response to popular concern on trade agreements? Shut down debate
When the Walloons finally agreed to accept the passage of the Canada-EU so-called trade agreement, or CETA, one of the concessions they secured was that the legality of the investor protection element of the deal (known as ICS) would be tested in the E…Read more…
#CETA: zombie trade deal is no recipe for #Brexit
Today the Prime Minister of Canada flew into Brussels to sign the EU-Canada so-called trade agreement known as CETA – the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement – with the European Union. For the past fortnight, the signing had been held up by the French speaking regional parliament…Read more…
New declaration shows why countries must say NO to CETA deal
Yesterday an add-on to the CETA EU-Canada trade agreement proposed by the European Commission and the Canadian government (titled a ‘joint interpretive declaration’) was leaked. Trade ministers from EU countries will be asked to vote on CETA in just over a week on October 18 so the purpose of the…Read more…
Trade deals still on the Brussels agenda – we say no!
Despite the Prime Minister’s mantra that “Brexit means Brexit”, the UK is still engaged in negotiating so-called trade deals as part of the EU, so yesterday, the TUC sent a small…Read more…
#TTIPleaks show the UK government is actively choosing not to protect NHS and public services
Some have been using the Greenpeace leaks of negotiating texts from the EU-US trade deal known as TTIP to claim Britain should leave the EU to escape damaging trade rules being imposed on us by shady Brussels negotiators. But disturbingly, what they actually show (adding to evidence we had from…Read more…
How much does the Canadian government want a trade deal with the EU?
Before the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the USA comes the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. It has been ‘agreed’ several times, but it’s not over yet. And it’s still seriously deficient…Read more…